Just Rocks

‘It’s rocks….’ Vetch did not seem impressed. ‘Just rocks.’

‘Yes,’ Stigmun said. ‘That’s the beauty of it.’

‘What… a pile of rocks?’ Vetch walked around the heap of rocks. ‘I mean, what is the point?’

‘Well… it’s the caves.’ Stigmun nodded back to the escarpment where various members of the tribe where going about their normal daily routines, most of which seemed to involve removing bloody bits of animals from inside their skins.

‘Oh, yeah, the caves.’ Vetch nodded as though he understood, then turned to look back at the other man. ‘What about them?’

‘We’re running out….’

‘Well, in a morning, yes, especially if you’ve spent the night around the campfire drinking the fermented juice, then true you will probably need to run out… stagger a bit sharpish anyway.’

‘No,’ Stigmun sighed. ‘We’re running out of room in the caves. All those children….’

‘Oh, the children.’ Vetch nodded. ‘Wish I knew where they all came from.’

‘Well,’ Stigmun said. ‘You know when they women get really big bellies…?’

‘That I do know,’ Vetch said dismissively. ‘All my women seem to be either having babies, or just had one. What I want to know is how the babies get in their bellies in the first place.’

‘That I don’t know.’ The other man admitted. ‘But anyway, I thought with us running out of room in the cave, and there not being that many caves around… then why not make our own.’ He made a gesture to towards the pile of stones. ‘Obviously, you’ll need quite a few stones piled on top of each other and something to go over the top to keep the rain out.’

The other man nodded slowly, then shook his head. ‘Nah,’ he said, turning to walk away. ‘It’ll never catch on.’